The Sneads Pirates opened their regular season in a rare Thursday night game against cross-county rival, the Cottondale Hornets on enemy territory. The home crowd didn’t phase the Pirates as they brought their fans with them and gave them something to cheer about with a 41-14 route of the young Cottondale Hornets.
It appeared as though Calvin Stringer had set up residence in the endzone with five visits for five rushing touchdowns on the night. Senior quarterback Colton Mercer also found the endzone for the Pirates on a quarterback sneak from the two-yard line.
Sneads scored early in the first quarter on one of Stringers 19 carries with Anthony Moran nailing the point after through the uprights. At the end of the first period, it was Sneads 7-0 over Cottondale.
The Pirates added a pair of touchdowns in the second quarter with Cottondale countering with one of their own. Quarterback Caleb Nix found Christian Jordan for the first touchdown of the night for the Hornets. At the half, Sneads was in the lead 21-6.
Sneads wasted no time after the halftime break putting up another seven points. Stringer found his way to his camper in the endzone and Moran sailed it through the uprights, making it a 28-6 lead.
Stringer scored his final touchdown in the fourth quarter with Mercer adding one of his own. Moran was one-for-two in the final quarter but five-of-six on the night in point after attempts. Caleb Nix found Qui’darius Henderson for the Hornets final touchdown of the night. Nix found Cody Foran for the two-point conversion to make it a 41-14 final.
On the night, Stringer had 19 carries for 257 yards and five touchdowns, with Colton Mercer picking up 34 yards on the ground on seven carries and 13 yards in the air, going two-for-six. Seth Scott had 83 rushing yards on 11 attempts with Alonzo Hill picking up 33 yards on one carry.
Following the game, Sneads coach Bill Thomas praised his team and the efforts of the Hornets, “They played hard, Obert got them to do what he needed them to do and played all four quarters. Obert has to be proud of them. Our offense looked good, Mercer did a good job and Stringer had a great night. Dylan Dawson recovered a fumble and had an interception. He didn’t get a lot of reps this week like he normally does but he sure made the most of what he got.”
Both teams will be on the road this week with Sneads heading to Liberty County and Cottondale to Jay. Jay fell 49-17 to Walton Friday night with Liberty County getting nailed 24-7 by Port St. Joe. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. CST in Jay with Sneads kicking off at 7 CST in Liberty County.
